Biden’s approval of the Willow project contradicts his climate goals. But Biden probably needs support from the Alaskan Congressional delegation. Moreover, he is pursuing climate goals via technological transformation of energy and transportation sectors, and not via drilling bans.
Drilling Bans, Price Hikes, or Clean Energy Subsidies?
To get to net zero emissions by 2050, the world needs to drastically reduce its fossil fuel use. The problem is that the modern economy is energy intensive, relying on cheap fossil fuels. Because deep structural changes are very difficult, at least in the short run, the climate challenge is to meet energy needs at comparable costs through clean energy sources.
How to accomplish this fuel switch? Policymakers could make fossil fuels very expensive to create economic incentives for switching to alternative fuels. Higher prices would also lead to technological changes, but only in the long run. Alternatively, policymakers could provide subsidies and enact regulations to support rapid technological changes that make fossil fuels functionally obsolete.
Which of the routes—price hikes or technological change—comes with lower political costs? This is where it gets tricky. One might say that price hikes through drilling bans or simply allowing prices to remain high due to the “Putin Effect,” should be politically acceptable. After all, most opinion polls show that the U.S. public is concerned about climate change.
in particular, are very worried about climate issues. So, they should probably be ok with paying more for oil and gas.
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